Demography

• Demography


  The study of population, including factors affecting its size and growth
• Factors affecting population size and growth

  • Births
  • Immigration
  • Deaths
  • Emigration
• Natural change


  The number of births minus the number of deaths
• Net migration


  The number immigrating into a country minus the number emigrating from it
• The UK's population grew from 37m in 1901 to 65m today and should reach 71m by 2031. Growth has been mostly due to natural change rather than net migration
• Birth rate


  The number of live births per 1,000 of the population per year
• There has been a long-term decline in the birth rate. In 1900, it was almost 29. By 2014, it had fallen by more than 60%, to 12.2
• There were three baby booms: after the two world wars, and in the 1960s. The rate fell sharply in the 1970s, rose during the 1980s and early 1990s, and then fell until the recent increase since 2001
• Total fertility rate


  The average number of children a woman will have during her fertile years (aged 15-44)
• In the 1960s baby boom, the total fertility rate reached an average of 2.95 children per woman, declining to an all-time low of 1.63 in 2001, before rising slightly to 1.33 in 2014
• More women are remaining childless nowadays. Women are having children later: the average age is now over 30
• Reasons for the fall in birth rate

  • Changes in the position of women
  • Fall in the infant mortality rate
  • Children as an economic liability
  • Child-centredness
• Changes in the position of women

  Increased educational opportunities, more women working, changes in attitudes to family life and women's role, easier access to divorce, access to abortion and contraception
• Infant mortality rate


  The number of infants who die before their first birthday per 1,000 babies born
• The infant mortality rate has fallen greatly in the last century - in 1900 it was 154, by 2016 it was 3.9
• Reasons for the fall in the infant mortality rate include improved housing, sanitation, nutrition, and health services for mothers and children. Medical factors did not play much part until the 1950s, when the rate began to fall due to vaccination, antibiotics, and improved midwifery and obstetrics
• Children as an economic liability

  Laws banning child labour and introducing compulsory schooling mean they remain economically dependent for longer, and changing norms about children's right to a high standard of living raises their cost
• Child-centredness


  Childhood is now socially constructed as a uniquely important period, leading to a shift from quantity to quality - parents now have fewer children and lavish more attention and resources on these few
• Lower birth rates and fertility rates have several effects on the family and society, e.g. having fewer children means women are freer to go out to work, creating the dual earner couple
• Dependency ratio


  The relationship between the size of the working population and the size of the non-working (dependent) population
• Fewer children reduces the burden of dependency on the working population
• The number of deaths has been fairly stable since 1900 (about 600,000 per year), but there have been fluctuations, e.g. the two world wars and the 1918 flu epidemic
• Death rate


  The number of deaths per thousand of the population per year
• The death rate has halved from 19 in 1900, down to 8.9 by 2012. It began falling from about 1870, continuing until 1930, rose slightly during the 1930s and 1940s, and since the 1950s it has declined slightly
• Reasons for the fall in the death rate

  • Improved nutrition
  • Medical improvements
  • Public health improvements
  • Other social changes
• Up to 1970, about three quarters of the decline in the death rate was due to a fall in deaths from infectious diseases such as measles, dysentery and cholera, brought about by changing social factors
• Life expectancy


  How long an average person is expected to live
• Life expectancy has greatly increased since 1900 - for babies born in 1900 it was 50 years for males, 57 for females, while for babies born in 2013 it is 79.1 years for males, 82.9 for females
• The UK population is ageing - in 1971 the average age was 34 years, it's now nearly 40 and will reach 42.6 by 2031. The number of over 65s equalled the number of under-15s for the first time ever in 2014
• Reasons for the ageing population

  • Increasing life expectancy
  • Low infant mortality
  • Declining fertility
• An ageing population has several social and economic effects, including increased demand for public services, more one-person pensioner households, and a rising dependency ratio
• Ageism


  Age stereotypes that often portray the old as incompetent and a burden
• Hirsch (2005) argues that new policies will be needed to finance a longer old age, either by paying more in taxes or by raising the retirement age, or both
• Types of migrants


  • Permanent settlers
  • Temporary workers
  • Spouses
  • Refugees and asylum seekers
• Before the 1990s, UK immigrants mainly came from a few British ex-colonies. However, migrants now come from many more countries, with different legal statuses, and a given ethnic group may also be divided by culture or religion
• Transnational identities


  Migrants may develop identities from two or more different sources and see themselves as belonging to multiple countries, rather than just one
• States have policies to control immigration and deal with cultural diversity. Assimilationism aims to encourage immigrants to adopt the language, values and customs of the host culture, while multiculturalism accepts that migrants may wish to retain a separate cultural identity
• Castles (2000) argues that assimilationist policies are counterproductive because they mark out minority groups as 'Other', leading to increased suspicion and making assimilation less likely
• Assimilationist ideas may encourage workers to blame migrants for problems such as unemployment, which benefits capitalism by dividing the working class